Cambodia and Thailand agree to demilitarize border zone

Sep 15, 2011, 13:25 GMT

Phnom Penh - Thailand has agreed to a July ruling by the International Court of Justice calling for Thailand and Cambodia to remove troops from a disputed flashpoint zone on their common border, Cambodia said Thursday.

The move came during the visit to Phnom Penh of Thailand's recently-elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra amid expectations of improved relations between the two neighbours.

The disputed zone lies near the 11th century temple of Preah Vihear, one of several areas along the Thai-Cambodian border that saw deadly clashes as recently as April.

The fighting, which took place under the previous Thai government, caused consternation at the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations group, of which both countries are members. Indonesia, the ASEAN chair, was forced into a mediating role.

Cambodia's Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Thursday's talks were fruitful.

'When we talked about the border, (Cambodian) prime minister (Hun Sen) says we have to follow the decision of the ICJ, and also accept the role of the Indonesians,' Khieu Kanharith said. 'The Thai prime minister agreed.'

He said the two countries had also agreed to combat cross-border crime, adding that Thailand would send a business delegation to Phnom Penh later in the year to try and boost trade and investment.

Yingluck, whose Pheu Thai party won Thailand's July ballot, is scheduled to leave Cambodia later Thursday. She has already visited Brunei and Indonesia as part of her regional trip.

Earlier Koy Kuong, a spokesman for Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Phnom Penh expected the visit would 'restore our bilateral relations and cooperation in all fields.'

'The government led by the Pheu Thai party in Thailand has the same goal as the Royal Government of Cambodia - that we hate war, we don't like to use violence as a means to solve our problems,' he said. 'We love a peaceful solution.'

Relations between Cambodia and Thailand plunged under Yingluck's predecessor Abhisit Vejjajiva. Abhisit became prime minister in 2008 following the military's 2006 ousting of Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Yingluck's brother and the force behind Pheu Thai.

Another area of common interest is the stalled effort to resolve disputes over offshore oil and gas deposits in the 27,000-square-kilometre Overlapping Claims Area.

It has been a decade since the two countries started efforts to reach agreement on carving up revenues from the deposits. However a Cambodian government spokesman said the issue was not discussed Thursday.

The rocky relationship between the countries worsened after Phnom Penh appointed Thaksin as a government adviser in 2009, a post he no longer holds. Thaksin, who has been living in Dubai to avoid a two-year jail term for abuse of power, is due to visit Cambodia on Friday.

However, Phnom Penh has stressed that Thaksin has no authority to negotiate on behalf of the Thai government, adding that he would visit to deliver two speeches, meet his Thai supporters and play golf with Hun Sen.

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